There was a power cut in many parts of Alarmelmangapuram and the entire concert happened under backup power supplied by inverters. OST came into peak form in the kIravANi raga alapana which he did for close to 18 minutes. After he finished his elaborate rendition of the song in kIravANi alongwith neraval and kalpana swaram, people were wondering why did he not give taniavartanam. May be he had a RTP in his mind. It was then that the organizer announced that the power backup may not last for more than 30-35 minutes. Sri Bhaktavatsalam then asked if he can play taniavartanam for the same song itself in misra chapu talam and proceeded to play one laced with very intelligent kanakkus (calculations) alongwith Sri Gopalakrishnan. A concert that seemed to be heading for a absolutely brilliant finish with another detailed rendition of a kriti or a detailed RTP was thus brought to a quick end.

The songs in the concert, except for probably the kIravANi one, were all the ones OST usually sings. His song list included two of the “kOvur pancharatna kritis” of Thyagaraja swami viz., shambO mahAdEva and I vasudhA. He also made his trademark short speech which is so common in his concerts I have been to these days. It starts off with “I have visited so many countries in the world and have interacted with so many experts of music and also seen many systems of music …” and he goes on to say how great carnatic music is and how it is the best among all the great systems of music. The real useful part comes after this when he appeals to people ” …. to support, propogate, encourage (and a few other related words) …. carnatic music” by whatever means they can. Sri Bhaktavatsalam then took over and spoke a few lines on how laya is a very important component and how artists from other systems of music have come to him after concerts and asked if he can teach them the kOrvais he played.